Annie Hall (1977)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

Woody Allen (written by) and
Marshall Brickman (written by)

Release Date:

20 April 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A nervous romance.

Plot:

Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

Plot Keywords:

Opposites Attract | Urban | Quirky | Pygmalion | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 24 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Alvy Singer
Diane Keaton	...	Annie Hall
Tony Roberts	...	Rob
Carol Kane	...	Allison
Paul Simon	...	Tony Lacey
Shelley Duvall	...	Pam
Janet Margolin	...	Robin
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Mrs. Hall
Christopher Walken	...	Duane Hall (as Christopher Wlaken)
Donald Symington	...	Mr. Hall
Helen Ludlam	...	Grammy Hall
Mordecai Lawner	...	Mr. Singer
Joan Neuman	...	Mrs. Singer (as Joan Newman)
Jonathan Munk	...	Alvy Singer - Age 9
Ruth Volner	...	Alvy's Aunt

Also Known As:

A Roller Coaster Named Desire (USA) (working title)
Anhedonia (USA) (working title)
It Had to Be Jew (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Brazil:14 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

2nd Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Rollins-Joffe Productions

Trivia:

The first rough cut ran 2 hours and 20 minutes. Among the scenes later eliminated were: segments showing Alvy's former classmates in the present day; Alvy as a teenager; a scene in a junk-food restaurant (featuring Danny Aiello); extensive additional scenes featuring Carol Kane, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst and Shelley Duvall; and a fantasy segment at Madison Square Garden featuring the New York Knicks competing against a team of five great philosophers. Christopher Walken's driving scene was also cut, but was restored a week before the film was completed. New material for the ending was filmed on three occasions, but most was discarded. The final montage was a late addition.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: The boom mike is clearly visible in one scene but this is intentional.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alvy Singer: [addressing the camera] There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. The...

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Getting Connected: On the Set of 'Hanging Up' (#7.2)" (2000)

Soundtrack:

Sleepy Lagoon

A masterpiece, when you think about it

Sometimes I wish Woody Allen was cool and self confident, and not always nervous, unsure and geeky all the time. But you can't deny that he's a very intelligent person. His best film, the quiet and understated masterpiece "Annie Hall", is so full of jokes and inventive style it can make your head spin. Actually, this is one film I wish I had a script of so I could slowly read all those dialogs which are being said too fast. In 1978 "Annie Hall" beat "Star Wars" and won 4 Oscars ( Best picture, director, screenplay, actress Diane Keaton ) and one Golden Globe ( Best actress Diane Keaton ).

--------

The simple comedy about a romance between the New York comedian Alvy and Annie is enriched by tons of emotions and inventive film techniques which even Jean-Luc Godard would be jealous of. In one scene Alvy is talking to Annie about art while the subtitles are presenting his *real* words, about how he wants to take her out! In the other they are having intercourse in bed while Annie's ghost/mind is absent and sitting on a chair! Alvy is walking down the street and saying how he watched the animated movie "Snow White and the seven dwarfs" and fell in love with the witch and presto, in the next scene he is drawn in animation in the middle of that film, having an argument with his lover, the witch. The list goes on and on.

I remember that I couldn't watch this film when I was a kid. I found it to be too boring. But today I completely understand it. You just have to think about it. Like when Alvy is so happy he says to Annie that he doesn't just love her, but that he "luurves her, loaves her and luuf's her." Also, some of the gags are simply quietly hilarious, like when the hero is narrating his society as a child, commenting on everything ( "Those who don't know nothing, teach. Those who don't know how to teach, teach gym. And those don't know even that, teach at our school." ).

Grade: 10/10